Bomber is the third studio album by the band Motörhead, released on 27 October 1979, on Bronze Records, their second with the label. The album reached #12 on the UK charts at the time.
By 1979, Motörhead had been together for four years and had amassed a loyal following in both punk and heavy metal circles. After recording an album for United Artists that the label shelved, the band released its eponymous debut LP in 1977, but it was with 1979's Overkill that the band hit their stride. The title track landed in the UK Top 40 and, after appearing again on Top of the Pops, the band returned to the studio that summer with legendary producer Jimmy Miller to record what would become Bomber. However, the band did not have the opportunity to work up the songs on the road, as they had with their previous album. Joel McIver quotes singer and bassist Lemmy in his book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead:
"..I wish we'd played the songs onstage first, like we did with the Overkill album, if we could've played them for three weeks on the road it would have been less slick.....Listen to the way we play them live and compare that to the album.."
Nonetheless, Bomber would peak at #12 on the UK albums chart, their strongest showing up to that point.
During the recording of this album, Jimmy Miller was increasingly under the influence of heroin, at one point disappearing entirely from the studio and being found asleep at the wheel of his car. Ironically the album features the band's first anti-heroin song – "Dead Men Tell No Tales." Miller had produced some of the Rolling Stones most heralded work from 1968 to 1973 but, after struggling through the sessions for 1973's Goats Head Soup, had been shown to the door. In the documentary The Guts and the Glory, drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor marvels:
"..We used to think that we were bad at being late, but he would be, like, half a day late, or even more late, you know, and his excuses were marvellous.."
In his autobiography White Line Fever Lemmy states:
"..Overkill was supposed to be something of a comeback album for Jimmy Miller, which is exactly what it turned out to be for him. He had gotten very heavily into heroin (which likely began when he was working with the Stones) and he had lost it for a couple [of] years...but months later, when we were working with him on Bomber, it was sadly clear that he was back on smack.."
The band returned to Roundhouse Studios in London with additional recording taking place at Olympic Studios. This album caught Lemmy at his most ferocious, hitting hard at the police in "Lawman," marriage and how his father left him and his mother in "Poison," television in "Talking Head" and show business in "All the Aces." This album is the first to have a picture of the band on the cover, which all three members are inside a plane. The title track was inspired by Len Deighton's novel Bomber. On one track, "Step Down," Eddie Clarke is featured on vocals. In his memoir, Lemmy reveals that:
"..[Clarke] had been bitching that I was getting all the limelight, but he wouldn't do anything about it. I got sick of him complaining, so I said, 'Right, you're gonna fucking sing one on this album'...he hated it, but really, he was a good singer, Eddie.."
During the recording of Bomber, Motörhead played the Reading Festival, performing alongside other acts like the Police and The Tourists.
Adrian Chesterman illustrated the album cover depicts Lemmy, 'Fast' Eddie Clarke and a bug-eyed Phil 'Philthy Animal' Taylor bearing down from the gunner cockpits of a Heinkel 111 bomber in the Blitz. Fascinated by military regalia, Lemmy insisted the plane be German because: "The bad guys make all the best shit".
Chesterman explains: "I suggested the Heinkel plane. They wanted this photo-realistic effect, so I designed the thing with the detached bomb coming towards you.
"I worked in airbrush in black and white, which I would then tint", he adds. "That's why my work always looked very doomy. To get the lighting right, I got a little Airfix kit of a Heinkel 111, made it up and sprayed it black". He then took photos to get the reflection underneath. Chesterman took the call on the Friday and met up with the band the next day.
"They wanted the artwork within a week, I suggested meeting them at midday. I don't they were accustomed to getting up that early, because they all looked decidedly grumpy. Phil had a tin of Special Brew in his hand. The pictures of them in the plane were so small, I needed passport-sized photographs, which I cut out and painted in. I had to get them to snarl and look like they were shooting machine guns. Lemmy is curling his lip up. And Phil just had that expression permanently".
Despite Clarke being "a bit pissed off" at his "girly hair", Motörhead loved it. The effect was completed by a chrome Snaggletooth on the side of the plane. Such was the sleeve's impact that the band insisted on the now infamous Bomber lighting rig for their accompanying tour – a 40 ft Heinkel replica that moved from side to side over the stage.
Named after a Len Deighton novel.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Ian Fraser Kilmister, Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor except where noted.
Side A
- "Dead Men Tell No Tales" 3:07
- "Lawman" 3:56
- "Sweet Revenge" 4:10
- "Sharpshooter" 3:19
- "Poison" 2:54
Side B
- "Stone Dead Forever" 4:54
- "All the Aces" 3:24
- "Step Down" 3:41
- "Talking Head" 3:40
- "Bomber" 3:43
Total length: 36:48
On Bomber-tour 1979-1980 Motörhead used a Bomber-scale model on the stage, above the band. The model was many metres long and weighted over 500 kilos. The bomber was stolen on the Iron Fist-tour, but they made up a new in mid 90's.
Recording information:
Recorded at Roundhouse Recording Studios and Olympic Recording Studios between July 7th and August 31st, 1979.
Jimmy Miller – producer
Trevor Hallesy – engineer
Darren Burn – mastering
Nigel Brooke-Hartz – mastering
Adrian Chesterman – design
Joe Petagno – Snaggletooth (the Bomber has it painted on the side)
